A few fun pics

A won a tree from the Festival of Trees - the picture doesn't do it justice, but its really beautiful and even came with some presents!

Family fun night activity: Gingerbread house decorating!

This is our new baby Christmas kitten: Star
He is a fun little furball!

Time Flies!

Wow...so much for keeping up with the blogging. Once school got going my schedule was full and then some! Here is a posting of our holiday letter which offers somewhat of an update...

Dear Ones,

We wish you the best this holiday season! We are so thankful for all the goodness in our lives- and especially for YOU, our friends and family who support us and love us all through the year! As is our custom, we would like to share with you some of the things we’ve been doing. We hope you will share your stories with us too!

One of the biggest changes to our lives this year was that Cody and I became licensed foster parents in August. Shortly after, our lovely foster daughter joined our family. This has been an amazing experience for all of us and one that we will cherish forever. In order to protect her identity, I won’t be using her name in this letter. She is two weeks older than A.J. and they are both in 4th grade. We are so proud of both A.J. and ***, who have been kind and patient as they’ve adjusted to life together. Both kids are doing well in school, and enjoy participating on the same Destination Imagination team. Over the course of the school year the team practices problem-solving, critical thinking, and teamwork skills as they come up with a solution to a team challenge. This year their team will be completing the “structural” challenge in which they will build a structure out of balsa wood, foil, and glue. They will participate in a competition in March where they will perform a skit and also test the amount of weight that their structure can hold. It will be an exciting day and will be fun to see all their hard work pay off! They have also both been taking gymnastics once a week and are gaining strength and flexibility. A.J. joined his school choir this year and will be performing for the first time at the school’s holiday concert. We are really looking forward to seeing our boy on stage! *** recently started taking guitar lessons from one of our very generous and talented neighbors. It is exciting to see both the kids growing, changing and developing new talents and skills.

One of Cody’s big achievements this year was earning his green belt in karate. He is only one belt away from black now! Last spring he competed in his first karate tournament. He really enjoyed it and it was a lot of fun to watch. He has taken up a new hobby recently. I like to tease him about it and say that he is just tinkering, but really he is repairing and reselling broken PS3s (gaming consoles). He may even be able to make a little money off of his successful re-sales. (We hope!) Cody is in his 8th year with Data West Corporation and continues to enjoy his work for the most part. He does a lot with the kids and is hugely supportive of me - making it possible for me to have the time I need to complete my school work.

I will be finishing up my second to last year of college this spring. I’ll graduate in the spring of 2012 with my Bachelors degree in Interdisciplinary Studies: Teacher Education. When I’m done I’ll be licensed to teach Preschool- 6th grade. During the term that will begin in January, I will be beginning “Immersion 1” of the Teacher Ed. Program. During the semester I will be in exclusively teacher education “methods” classes in which I’ll be learning specific techniques and skills needed to teach various subjects. I’ll also have 90 hour of field study during which time I will be putting into practice the things I’ll be learning in class. I’ m looking forward to being in the elementary classrooms more and to gaining a lot of hands on experience. In my “free time” I still enjoy scrapbooking and reading. I’m also one of the kids Destination Imagination Team Managers.

As always, we are grateful that we live close to my parents and much of Cody’s family, as we thoroughly enjoy the time we get to spend with them. We’ve been on one trip up to the Boulder/Arvada area this year and will be going to Portales, NM in the spring to attend Cody’s brother’s college graduation ceremony. We are very proud of him and are excited to see what his future will hold.

Once again we’d like to extend our warmest wishes to each of you and hope that the New Year treats you well!

A month in and counting

We are officially very attached to our lovely girl. When she crawled into my lap today and wanted me to read to her, I felt such affection for her, my heart melted. :) I love having two kids and I really enjoy the extra laughs, the new perspective, and the interesting personality that having a new child in the home brings. The kids are both continuing to do well in school. F- is seeming to really beginning to feel comfortable, stable, and secure with us and is thus acting more and more like a contented child every day, rather than a frightened child constantly testing us. It was super fun to take them to the skate park today- our first time!

Just cause

Well, there is acutally not a whole lot of new info to share... I recently read the blog post of another woman who has a new baby in the home and I felt like I could relate to her comments:
"I don't know what I do all day except take care of him, don't get much else done" - I think that's pretty much the life of new parents whether your child is a new born or not. Our foster daughter and our son are beautiful children and I love getting to see the world through their eyes each day. Building this new relationship with F- has been so sweet and its amazing how quickly your heart opens and you fall in love if there is even a little room for it. In our case, we have been so lucky because she does have a good heart and she has a lot in common with us so it hasn't been too hard for her to fit into our routines and our family structure. At the same time, she is a child who has been hurt and she is needy and demands supervision beyond what might be expected for a child her age -so being vigilient 24/7 is tiring. She needs a lot of emotional support and help setting boundaries. Its hard work, but its also heart work and it is as gratifying as it is tiring. I am so lucky to get to have this experience and to get to share it with my awesome husband. He's the best father and husband and our kids are so lucky to have him set such a good example of what it means to be a dad. In many ways, we have a new "baby" in the house and our ability to interact with our extended family has changed because we have to protect her the the safe "cocoon" of our immediate family - luckily she has come along way already and seems more and more able to handle longer activity times and being around more people in our family.
We had a good visit with our aunt, and cousins this weekend and it was great having her around to share it with us. A- is doing well too and I feel that he is stretching and parts of his personality are developing and maturing -I think that this is a good time for him to be a brother and that he's learning a lot from this experience.

I love our family so much and I am in awe of what life holds for each of us if we are willing to step out of our comfort zones once in a while and just take a leap of faith.

Two Weeks In

Being a foster parent is rewarding and gratifying in ways that I didn't expect. It is also quite difficult, but not in the day to day kind of way that I expected. At least not at this point. So far, the most difficult thing I can imagine is actually the time when we will have to let our foster daughter go. Yesterday evening we thought rode our bikes to the pizza place, then played in the park. It was super fun! Today we've been doing chores, watching t.v. and we went to a "kid's fair". The kids had a good time "mining" for money in a pile of pine shavings. It was a pretty cool idea! I think I might create my own sawdust mine for us to play in. :)

It comes with the territory

Today my lovely little foster daughter showed the side of her that is really hurting. She was insolent and obstinate ~ but through acknowledging her feelings and being patient, she came through. This is going to be as tough as I thought... at times tougher I'm sure. I'm thankful for my loving parents, son, and fellowship community who all helped us get through this day. This sweet girl needs a lot of love and support right now.

Our first day together

A's sand castle and F's mud pie with birthday candles

Nothing like some cool wet sand

Yesterday moring we met and brought home our foster daughter, F--. She is a pretty and sweet little girl, who I am sure will have moments of seeming otherwise, but not because that's who she is, but because she has been through a lot. She is 9 years old and fits into our family like a hand into a glove. She was crossing her fingers when we met her that her room would be red... as you know it is purple, but the bed is red and that saved us ;) Today she and A-- started school. It really is working well to have them both be the same age. A-- has been very good about showing her the ropes around here and at school. One of the most pleasant things we did was go for a picnic lunch and play by the river. The day went really well and helped us get off to a good start. I can't imagine moving to a new home with people you have never met before and the very next day starting school at a new school, but she is doing it with as much grace as she can and I am proud of her already.